Evolution: A Warlock's Rise To Power

Lucan informed Commander Gear to make sure his people remained alert in the coming days. He planned to leave and level soon. Gear could contact him easily enough and Silent had started to take a good number of the elves as her own acolytes so they shouldn't have any issues reporting things in.

The Warlock then contacted and give his favorite information broker a list of names to look into. Even if they were just hired to do a job, he would never forgive those assassins.

Sturdy Willow entered the command room. Recently the southern tower had become pretty busy and it seemed as if things had been going well for him lately.

"I heard a bit about what happened. If you want to higher us, our A team doesn't start our newest contract for a few days. We can help you out a bit if you want to set something up."

Lucan shook his head. "Thanks, but no. That won't solve my problems. I need to get stronger and plan to run some dungeons and level up."

"We have already cleared a number of dungeons in the area. I can recommend a few that would be good for you if you like."

"No, that won't be good enough. I plan to head to the Eldritch battleground to increase my power."

"Eldritch battleground?"

"It's a place for warlock's and their acolytes. I can gain max experience and still put 50% in my bank at the same time. It's the quickest way to grow my level and power."

"Interesting. If you want, I can hire out a few members of C team to help carry you through."

"I want to improve my combat efficiency. I don't want to be carried. And you should know that the death penalty in the battle grounds is doubled." Lucan said while shaking his head.

"Hmm, I can get a few people from the D team. The really aren't in demand. You don't have to contract them but if you don't you will have to split loot evenly."

Lucan looked to Silent and thought it over. She only shrugged to say it was up to him. "Alright, can you contract me three players. I need a healer, a tank and pure spell caster."

"Sure. Give me a couple of minutes to make a call and see who is interested. Since it's D team, we can give you an open-ended contract. It's unlikely we will need to call them away. Just pay per day and the death payment will be doubled. But your discount will still apply."

"Alright. We will be back."

Lucan and Silent went to the vault to grab any supplies they might need. Lucan also need to swap out his armor and replace the pieces that were missing.

When they returned, three players were waiting with Sturdy.

A druid named Furry, a cleric named Resilient, and a sorcerer named Frosty all introduced themselves.

"Alright you three, you will be under Lucan's command as long as he needs you or until we call you back. Work hard and don't let the Willow name down."

"""Yes sir."""

"Follow us. We will be entering the Eldritch battleground through Vert Shadow." Silent said as Lucan left the room with the others trailing behind.

They nodded politely and followed. All three were about the same level as Lucan, and Silent was the strongest of the group at level 119.

***

Lucan and the others entered the Eldritch Battleground city that the coven had originally taken over. Many repairs had been completed and it was bustling with NPCs. Lucan had read on the coven forum that Lisel had run a few other recruitment dungeons and had also brought many other NPCs into the area. That along with the many number of player followers she had brought made it a busy place.

With too many people to recognize every face, Lucan wasn't stopped and accused of being an invader this time.

Entering into the headquarters, Guard Captain Brandt immediately came and gave Lucan a warm welcome.

"Lord Quilldrake, it had been some time since you last returned. I had feared you had forgotten us." The guard captain joked.

"Ha, ha, I have been busy. I need up to date maps. Is Hellfire or Lisel in the territory?"

"That is no problem, and no. Miss Lisel left this morning and Duke Hellfire hasn't been here in several weeks."

"Are there any pressing matters at the moment?"

"No sir, everything is running smoothly, well Lisel did mention that the tent city formation is starting to grow weaker and overcrowded."

"Alright, I will take care of it. Remember to contact me if you need my help."

"Yes, of course Lord Quilldrake." Brandt said before Lucan left the building.

"So what is the plan?" Furry the druid asked.

Lucan passed around a map so each player could take a screenshot of it. "We will travel through the goblin plains for some warmup, then rest at the forward camp while I update the formations. You all should talk to any of the players present and try to pick up any local gossip. After that we will head west where the others haven't explored much yet. Apparently, the west holds creatures our level which is why my higher-level colleges haven't paid to much attention to the area. Ask the players if the know anything about what is out there."

Lucan then called to Adrestia who stoped circling high in the air and flew towards his shoulder while he took out an expensive looking book, setting it on the ground.

"Okay girl, we both need to start raising our strength, now that I have finished my quest from Raze I can start spending experience to level you up, but first I want you to learn dragon magic. Open up that book and activate it. It won't give you any spells or abilities, but it will unlock the potential for you to learn them on your own, compared to me buying them for you. In the future you will have to train hard with this new magic."

The miniature drake hopped down to the ground and scraped open the book before peering inside.

A dark golden orange magic floated out from withing and began to flow into her body. As the last of the magic exited the book it disintegrated into ashes.

Lucan took out a much more ordinary looking book and opened it. It too fell apart into dust.

[You are now proficient in melee duel wielding]

"Do you 3 have mounts?" Lucan asked.

They all shook their heads but Furry spoke up. "I can transform."

"Okay, use it if you want or you can catch a ride with me."

Lucan activated his shadow mount ability and chose a 5-person mount. It wasn't as fast as his shadow horse and didn't have the ability to turn sharply either but it sure beat walking.

A large lizard stretching over 15 feet was formed from the shadows. On its back were several scales that rose above the others and formed a shallow cup. Basically, a seating area that wasn't easy to fall out of.

Lucan, Silent, and the others hopped up and set out on the journey through the goblin plains.

Since it was a non-combat mount, once it took a few hits it would disappear, meaning they would eventually become besieged and have to go the rest of the way on foot. But while the goblins were still low level, the ranged users could clear them before they got close to the shadow lizard.

Lucan and Silent had no problem doing damage at a distance and Frosty was the same. Unlike mages, wizards and most other spell casters, sorcerers drew their magic power from their bloodlines instead of a mana core and similarly to warlocks they had a few abilities that didn't rely on mana at all.

In Frosty's veins flowed the blood of an ice maiden. She had powerful ice abilities and her most basic spell was to just launch icicles at the goblins, which worked quite well.

Furry was a typical druid who could transform into several different beasts and also was able to perform a bit of simple nature magic. He would be taking the brunt of the damage in the dungeons. When a druid transformed they received a whole new health pool, meaning that once they transformed they could take a certain amount of damage (Based on what kind of beast they transformed into), once their health emptied, instead of dying they would turn back to their normal form with the same health they had when they first transformed.

Resilient was a cleric capable of many holy spells. Clerics were generally a mix between a priest and a paladin. Like a priest they were a spellcasting class but instead of wearing cloth armor they wore heavy armor like a light paladin. They weren't in a full suit of armor, but they usually wore chainmail and a half breast plate among other protective gear. On top of that they were also able to wield maces, allowing them to bash anything that got close. The trade off for the protective nature of a cleric was that they didn't have as insanely strong healing spells like priest and they also couldn't revive the dead.

While they fought from lizard-back the group talked and got to know each other better. Lucan was impressed with the standard exploring kit Sturdy had given the three contracted players. They had return scrolls, bandages, potions, rations, a few spell scrolls and several other handy items to keep them safe. He wouldn't have to worry about them dying over and over and racking up a bill for him to pay later.

"We should go by foot from here." Silent said as the goblins were getting closer to level 100. The Lizard mount wasn't able to go faster than a walking speed at this point and was only hindering their combat abilities at this point.

Lucan hopped down and took out his scepter and a wand. The Blade of Corruption and Night's Whisper appeared in his hands as he charged headfirst into the goblins. He wanted to limit himself to his thief abilities until they reached tent city so he would be able to start using them on instinct in the future.

By mid-day they walked through the invisible barrier and entered into the tent city that was hidden by formations.